BlackBerry Explains Why They Opened BB10 To Third-Party MDMs

Earlier we had reported that BlackBerry had decided to allow third party mobile device management (MDM) platforms to manage BlackBerry 10 devices. It was an interesting move by BlackBerry, especially since BES was one of the features of choosing the BlackBerry platform that made it so unique.

In a recent interview with BlackBerry’s president of Global Enterprise Services, John Sims, he attempted to explain the reasoning behind BlackBerry opening up BlackBerry 10 to third party MDMs. “MDM has become table stakes; it is no longer a meaningful point of differentiation. The differentiation for BlackBerry in the future will be our ability to enable secure, productive mobile communications, collaboration and other applications.”

However by opening up BlackBerry 10 to other MDM platforms, won’t this take away from BlackBerry’s position in the market? With potentially cheaper solutions available, won’t companies choose to use a different platform like AirWatch, Citrix, or IBM? Sims does not appear to be too worried as he claims that BlackBerry will still be the only company that will be able to support a wide range of devices.

“With BES12 planned for late this calendar year, we will continue to support iOS, Android, Windows, BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS devices. This means BlackBerry is the only company that can support the full range of an organization’s mobility management requirements.”

Sims also touched on security, which some customers might be worried about if they go with a different MDM platform, but mentions that they can rest assured as there is top notch security that has been built into BlackBerry 10 itself.